Hanoi places economic growth on equal footing with environmental protection

Hanoi always determines fostering economic growth goes parallel with protecting the environment, Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, member of the Party Central Committee and Permanent Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party's Committee said at a workshop held on September 29.

Ms. Hang cited that in 10 years of the new-style rural program, Hanoi’s authorities have executed a number of projects to protect the environment.

Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, member of the Party Central Committee and Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party's Committee, visits the booth displaying environmental treatment technology on the sidelines of the workshop. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

With the participation of local residents, the profile of Hanoi’s rural areas has changed comprehensively. The people's life has been increasingly improved and environmental protection is paid serious attention to, Ms. Hang added.

However, she stressed that Hanoi needs to deploy concerted solutions to handle sewage and solid waste in rural areas.

Accordingly, the city has invested a paramount sum in modern and environmentally friendly technology for environmental treatment in rural areas.

Besides, it is necessary to speed up the process of building wastewater treatment zones for handicraft villages, replace the old treatment systems which no longer meet the requirements on environmental protection, install monitoring systems for environmental quality in industrial clusters.

Hanoi also needs to assess the environmental impacts in seriously-polluted craft villages to adopt specific solutions, focusing on using new technologies to reduce pollution.

It is necessary to classify household waste at source and apply technology to treat and reuse waste in rural areas. New domestic technologies must be developed to treat household wastewater prior to discharge.

Two serious polluting sources in Hanoi's rural areas

Statistics show that Hanoi now has 309 craft villages and traditional craft villages in 23 districts and towns. Among them, 139 are seriously polluted, 95 reach the contamination level. Only about 5.2% of wastewater is collected and treated in the craft villages.

According to the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, only a few craft villages treat sewage in wastewater treatment plants located in industrial clusters. Most of the wastewater from those villages is discharged directly into the environment, causing a high level of pollution.

In addition to the source of waste discharged from craft villages, livestock wastewater also represents a serious challenge. The total amount of solid waste discharged from livestock farming is approximately more than 2.5 million tons per year, while the city's poultry farms dump more than 600,000 tons of solid waste per year, according to statistics.

Wastewater, solid waste from craft villages, livestock and poultry husbandry have worsened the quality of the rural environment and increasingly affected people's health.